Exclusive Q&A with Alex Winter

Jan 25, 2007

Alex was nice enough to sit down and answer some pressing questions for us. Below, you will find information on Napster , Acts of Charity, Save the Internet and more! Oh yeah... Starship Troopers...

Would you like to know more?

Freekland: First off, project updates. Where we at with:

Napster

Alex Winter: We're putting the financing together. Going very well. Just completed a new draft.

Acts of Charity

Set up at Crossroads Films. They just finished David Gordan Green's new movie "Snow Angels" which premiered at Sundance. We have cast, are out to leads and looking to shoot this year.

Williams Sisters Doc

Not a doc, a narrative; like an Elmore Leonard style examination of the sports world. I wrote this on assignment for Showtime so I'm not tracking it.

Spike Jones Biopic (with Tom?)

Wow, you're digging. if I recall the option on Spike's life ran out or something standard-issue industry-ish like that. But it was nothing more than a pitch.

Is that about everything?

There's some old Super 8 footage in my attic I just found. It's being remastered and released on a gorgeous eighteen-dvd box set, complete with commentary by Teddy Pendergrass.

FL: I was wondering about Howie from "Squeal of Death". He appeared in 3 of the shorts and I read somewhere you even wrote a feature film. What was the premise for that?

AW: Uh, this is going back decades, but it was spoof-Orwellian type stuff if I remember correctly. And I may not.

FL: "The Idiot Box" - you mentioned it may possibly air on MTV2? What can fans do to help us reach this goal or to get a DVD? I know there's a petition but is there anyone we can harass to get this done?

AW: They're trying. Fingers crossed.

FL: Unbelievably, "Freaked" is now available on DVD. How happy are you with the job Anchor Bay did with it?

AW: Amazing. It's pristine and beyond thorough. We were very very fortunate they took it on.

FL: How come we didn't see most of the outtakes make the DVD?

AW: There weren't good enough masters for those. It's vhs at best, so better consigned to youtube, etc.

FL: As a filmmaker, how do you feel about DVDs with commentaries, extras, etc. Less or more? Which DVDs have most impressed you as far as extras go?

AW: I love them. For people who want to dig into the movies or the filmmakers, it's a great thing. Non-linear is so user friendly that you only ingest what you want anyway so the more the merrier. My favorite commentaries are Coppola/Murch for The Conversation. Skip film school and just absorb this. And also Verhoeven/Neumeier for Starship Troopers and Frankenheimer for Ronin. There's so many great ones, but those are tops for me.

FL: Next, you shocked the hell out of me when you said you were acting again("Bones"). How did that come about and is this a sign of things to come?

AW: I've been happily very busy shooting and writing so unless something cool and quick comes along I haven't been open to it. I like Bones and I like the actors on it a lot so that fit the bill. Maybe I'll do some more if it's fun and easy. Don't know really. Fact is I'm living in LA again after being in NY and the UK so it's easier to act and do my other stuff.

FL: The Napster Movie. This is a pretty important film you're doing. Was this all your brainchild and do you feel more pressure to "get this one right"?

AW: Well it's Shawn Fanning's brainchild. He wanted to tell his story and we worked closely together on it. I care passionately about this project and what Napster represents in terms of a massive generational movement. We'll get it right, it's an amazing story and I've honed the draft for a few years now.

FL: Did you use Napster back in the day? Did it cause you any moral dilemmas?

AW: Used it until my computers fried. No moral dilemmas whatsoever. I never saw it as anything but a brilliant and inevitable evolutionary technology. I don't agree with piracy on any level, but neither does (or did) Shawn. For many of us it was more about connecting with other like-minded music fans around the world than grabbing stuff for free. I bought more cd's during my Napster days than I have in my life, I was just being turned on to so much incredible stuff.

FL: Another technology subject you're involved in is the "Save the Internet" Campaign. How did you get involved and how is that looking? Better or worse with the Dems in power in Congress?

AW: I was interested in doing some politically oriented ad work so we approached this amazing company called publicinterest.tv that does only that form of advertising. And yes we beat back the first wave of legislation to privatize and thus destroy the net. Hurrah!

FL: As long as we're talking technology... I've got a lot of your stuff up on YouTube. How do you like that site and would you consider doing some projects just for that?

AW: I've just started a digital media production entity with some partners. We're developing a whole slate of projects aimed only at web and mobile providers. A lot of it is intensely irreverent comedy.

FL: As far as music goes, are there any new bands out there you're digging or do you feel pretty alienated by the scene right now? Do you still listen to your same old bands?

AW: I listen to my usual diet of everything; rock, classical, reggae, funk, punk and on and on.I like plenty of new stuff like Autolux and Electrelane, but the Robyn Hitchcock/Peter Buck band Venus 3 is worn to a nub, and they rocked live. Also wore a hole through the Ray Davies solo record.

FL: I have to ask... horror movies. There are TONS of them coming out remakes, sequels, crossovers, Asian horror, you name it. What do you think of this trend and what ones have stood out to you?

AW: Uh..uh..uh..Rosemary's Baby? That was a good one.and The Brood.um.

(BTW, I just read there IS going to be a Lost Boys 2 with SURFING vampires!)

AW: yeah! I want to play the crotchety old guy like in the Beach Blanket Bingo movies that shakes his fist and says things like "You damn kids get offa my beach!!" Somehow I doubt they'd see the humor.

FL: What movies in general have you liked lately?

AW: I watch most stuff on dvd, like a dozen a week, and I take in my TV shows that way too. So It's old and new and whatever. Favorite recent movies, The Queen, Pan's Labyrinth, Borat, Children of Men. But I've been watching Bresson in insane doses. Pickpocket hasn't left my dvd player for months.

FL: Lastly, Freaked 2? Bill and Ted 3? Idiot Box Season 2? Which would you most like to do?

AW: Oy vey, none of the above. Unlike my screen doppelganger I have no interest whatsoever in time travel.

FL: If there's anything I missed which you wish I would've asked, add it below:

AW: Yeah there is. We met years ago via the net. We've never met face to face and yet we've come to know each other fairly well. I think it's worth a very big holler out of thanks to you for the site and putting all this together. It's extremely damn cool -Alex